Recreational fishing has recently been gaining in popularity. For those looking to adopt this activity, one of the hurdles is the cost associated with purchasing the equipment and, in particular, with purchasing a watercraft that will be used to practice this hobby. Typically fishing boats, even small entry level jon boats, have list prices well above the 1000 USD mark.
In recent years, kayak manufacturers have been modifying their existing recreational kayaks to accommodate users desirous of using their recreational kayaks as watercraft for fishing. One approach has been to provide recreational kayaks equipped with various accessories to render the fishing experience more pleasant by including, for example, fishing rod holders, providing a place to hold a cooler and/or hooks and bait, providing more suitable seating and the likes. Recreational kayaks equipped for fishing in this manner typically have a lower price point than would typically be associated with an equally equipped conventional fishing boat, thereby making them an interesting alternative for the budget conscious user.
While such an approach is not without some interest, the requirements for watercraft used for fishing differ somewhat from those of conventional recreational kayaks.
In designing recreational kayaks, there is often a trade-off that is made between performance and stability. Thus recreational kayaks are often designed with the objective of providing maximal performance (e.g., manoeuvrability, speed, directional stability (a.k.a. tracking) etc.), providing good stability or providing a balance between the two. Generally, once some experience has been acquired, the typical recreational kayak user can be comfortable foregoing a certain amount of stability for an improved performance. It is noted that in the context of a recreational kayak, the type of movement performed by the user is generally limited to paddling. The user also often sits on a seat whose bottom is located at a level below the surface of the water, resulting in a lower center of gravity and thus greater inherent stability. Moreover, except when embarking or dismounting, the typical user remains seated throughout use. As such, the manner in which recreational kayaks are used, and the position of the user within the kayak during use, typically make it easier to reduce the amount of stability in favor of improved performance without significantly adversely impacting the user's experience.
Conversely, in watercraft used for fishing, the user often performs movements other than paddling, such as, for example, throwing out a fishing line and pulling in a fish once one has bitten. In some cases, such movements may require the user to stand atop the watercraft and therefore it cannot be assumed that the user will remain seated throughout use except when embarking or dismounting. In addition, the user may wish to visually detect the presence of fish around the watercraft thereby making it desirable to have a seat whose bottom is located at a level above the surface of the water. While having a higher seating position may afford improved visibility of the water surrounding the watercraft, it results in a higher center of gravity. Thus, as illustrated above, the manner in which a fishing kayak is used increases the stability requirements of this type of watercraft. In addition, and at the risk of over-generalizing, the average user engaged in fishing tends to be older and somewhat heavier than the average user of recreational kayaks, which adds to the need for greater stability.
However stability is not the only requirement for providing a suitable fishing kayak.
For example, besides greater stability, it may also be desirable for the fishing kayak to be silent in its displacements since generating excessive noise may scare fish away from a neighboring region of the fishing kayak. Obviously, issues pertaining to noise are essentially inexistent for typical recreational kayaks.
Moreover, since the user of the fishing kayak may want to take his kayak further out into a body of water in order to find a suitable fishing spot, it is desirable for the fishing kayak to be not only stable but to also be fast and easy to navigate in order to provide a more pleasing user experience. However, conventional highly stable recreational kayaks often do not provide suitable performance in terms of speed and/or ease of navigation. While rudders can be added to kayaks to improve the navigation, the cost associated to such devices makes this a non-ideal solution in some cases.
Consequently, there is a need in the industry to provide a fishing kayak that alleviates at least some of the deficiencies associates with existing fishing kayaks.